The visiting hours have started and the corridors have people coming and going. One particular woman is on her own with three small children. The two smallest children are throwing tantrums and the youngest one is screaming the place down and she is dragging her along by the arm.
Dr. Stanton turns and smiles in acknowledgment to her before she disappears up the hallway with her screaming kids, then he turns back to his friend. “This is why condoms were the greatest ever invention,” he casually whispers.
“Deserves a Nobel prize,” the other doctor replies.
What? I frown.
Is he kidding? Who the hell does this twat think he is?
Condoms are the best thing ever invented. Well, he obviously hates kids.
I begin to hear my heart beat in my ears. And to think… I thought he was actually hot. He’s an arrogant fucking asshole.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” I whisper to Amber.
“Sure thing.”
I turn and walk up the hallway.
“Ashley?”
I turn to see Cameron behind me. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
I swallow my nerves. “Okay.”
“In here?” He opens a door into an office.
I follow him into the small space and he closes the door behind me.
His eyes soften and he appears nervous. “I came looking for you.”
I frown.
“I came to New York looking for you. I lost my phone with your number on it the day after you left.”
What a crock of shit.
“Je vous ai souvent pensé,” he whispers.
Translation: I have thought of you often.
My eyes drop to the floor. Oh God, he remembers our bilingual love making. I drag my eyes back up to his.
Why does he have to smell so good?
Every woman in this hospital is in lust with him, and if I let myself go there I will just be another on the list that he didn’t call. I can’t do it. I’m not going to be that needy girl who pines for Dr. Love.
“I’m sorry?” I reply flatly.
His face falls. “Vegas.”
“What about Vegas?” I ask.
He narrows his eyes as if annoyed. “We met in Vegas a few years ago.”
I purse my lips. “Did we? I don’t think so.”
He frowns.
“Vous ne vous souvenez pas de moi?”
Translation: You don’t remember me?
My eyes hold his. “I’m sorry. I don’t speak German.”
Hi lifts his chin defiantly as his ego takes a physical blow. “That was French,” he replies sarcastically.
My eyes hold his. “I don’t speak French, either. You’ve got the wrong girl.”
He steps back from me. Shock flashes across his face. Hell, I surprised myself. Why did I just say that? His eyes hold mine and he frowns as if processing my lie.
“Please excuse me. I thought you were someone else,” he murmurs.
“Who?” I ask as my eyebrows rise. “Who did you think I was?” I don’t know why, but I have to know his answer.
He smirks. He’s got me. He knows it was me. Why did I bloody ask that question? If it wasn’t me, I shouldn’t need to know that answer.
He tilts his chin sarcastically. “Just this amazing girl I met five years ago that I haven’t been able to forget.”
My face falls. Oh no.
Anger flares in his eyes. “Never mind. It wasn’t you. Sorry to take up your time.”
He brushes past me angrily and out the office, and the door bangs with a thud.
I stand in the silence for a moment, the sound of my shallow breaths filling the air.
He seemed hurt that I didn’t remember him. I already know that no woman with a pulse has ever forgotten Cameron Stanton.
I tip my head back to the heavens in despair.
Why on earth did I just do that?
Cameron
The sweat is running down my torso and the sound of my feet connecting hard on the surface rings loudly through the gym.
The treadmill is flying, but I need to get rid of this fury that’s boiling over.
Ten more minutes. Ten more minutes and then I can stop.
She didn’t remember me.
I glance up at the music channel playing overhead and wipe the perspiration from my brow as I think back to Vegas when I met her.
How could she have possibly forgotten the night that we had together?
It’s seared into my fucking soul.
I’ve compared every woman since. Nobody has ever measured up. Both physically and mentally, they always fall short.
Until her, I didn’t know what I was looking for.
Until I got on the plane empty handed in New York to return home from trying to find her, I didn’t know what disappointment was.
Was it even her?
I get a picture of her in my office earlier and trace my mind for the image I have in my head of our time in Vegas.
Yes, it fucking was her!
She has some kind of golden unicorn status in my mind and she was definitely in my office…
Today.
I turn up the speed and run as fast as I can.
“Are you trying to kill yourself?” Murph asks, interrupting my thoughts.
I’m too short of breath to answer him so I shake my head.
“Did someone die today?” he asks, concerned.
I shake my head, still too short of breath to answer.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Fuck… off,” I pant. I’m near having a heart attack here. What could possibly be wrong?
“You’re a cranky shit, you know that?” Murph frowns.
I continue to concentrate on the belt zooming by beneath my feet.
My brother Joshua-Stan as we call him-walks into the gym dressed to train after finishing work. We are in his office building gym, and it’s 5pm in the afternoon. We come here most days, and although he is only in LA a few days a week, Murph and I are here daily. This is the only reliable place where we get to see each other. Obviously, Stan and Murph work together, but with my crazy work schedule and all of us busy on weekends, this sixty minutes a day with my two best friends is sacred. When they are not annoying the fuck out of me, that is.
Stan frowns as he sees me and walks over to the treadmill to watch me for a moment. Murph joins him and they stand in front of me, both smirking.
“Fuck… off,” I pant. “I’m not in the mood for your fucking shit today.”
“Did someone die?” He frowns. Usually I only get like this if I lose a patient. Thankfully, that’s not my reasoning today.
“Nobody died,” I grunt, exasperated.
“Then what’s up your ass?” Stan asks.
“Nothing. I’ve had a prick of a day, that’s all.”
I continue running as they both move on and do their weights together. This is Joshua’s second workout for the day. He works out morning and night. He’s abnormal, I’m sure.
Why did she say she didn’t know me? Could she really have forgotten? A disturbing thought crosses my mind. Fuck, what if she’s married? What if I found her too late?
Found who? She doesn’t even know who you are, I remind myself. Maybe it was all one-sided. Hmm, it could happen, I suppose. I mean, it normally happens to me, only the other way around. The girls fall in love while I look for the closest exit door.
I think back. She was very eager to get away from me that morning. Maybe too eager.
Fuck, I shouldn’t have let her go. It’s the one thing I have regretted over the years, that I didn’t push the concierge for more information on her. And that I lost my stupid phone that night. If I had known what affect she was going to have on me, I would have gotten Joshua to hack the security footage, right there and then on the spot.
The treadmill finally comes to a halt and I step off it, my fatigued legs adjusting to the hard floor. I’m panting, covered in perspiration, and exhausted. I walk into the bathroom and get under a burning hot shower. I’ve never felt so out of control of a situation before.
It’s very… unsettling.
I stand under the shower and let the hot water run over my head as I feel my body recover from its exertion.
I think on it for a long time and I know I’ve got two choices. I can make a fool of myself by trying to make her remember me, even though I know she really already does, or…
I stare into space for a moment as I think. A smile crosses my face as a plan comes to mind.
You want to play mind games, baby?
Let’s go!